upcoming meeting with RID board

 Please join ITOC in meeting with the RID board to address any questions and concerns you have, especially in regards to our interpreting community of color.    

We will be meeting

this Sunday, Dec 4, 2016 at 

6:00PM EST.  

If you are interested in attending, please email itoc.chair@gmail.com. 

 I can send you the gotomeeting link.

If you have questions already in mind or cannot make the meeting, please email me your questions.  We want to be able to consolidate as many of the questions as we can. 

ITOC goals and more!

Transcript:

Hello! I am michon shaw from Tampa Florida where I was born and raised. I am Vice Chair for ITOC from 2015-2017.

Here is a brief review of ITOC's goals for the 2015-17 term. 

We would like to see a change in activity level from ITOC.  We want to see more activity via our website, FB page, and google group.  A little while ago, we had switched from our old yahoo group to the new google group.  

[If you are interested in joining our google group, please email one of us.  You can find our emails under the "2015-2017 ITOC Counsil" tab.]

We want to put out monthly vlogs from the ITOC counsil as well as wanting to submit more articles to the RID views

Our second goal is to have more gatherings for interpreters with different ethnic backgrounds to come together to network with one another and to continue to grow a strong relationship. We want to recognize and honor those in our community with skills and knowledge to offer.  We would like to see more presenters of color during the MS meeting times during the national and regional conferences.  

We also want to send out a member survey to see what would you like to ITOC accomplish over the next 2 years.  We also would like to do more fundraising to help sponsor interpreters and transliterators of color to be able to attend conferences. 

Those are our goals for 2015-2017

One more announcement. 

On january 23, we are hosting an ITOC happy hour in San Francisco [California]. If you are available [and in the area], please join us!  We want to see more ITOC events being hosted all over the nation. If you have any ideas or are interested in hosting an ITOC event, please contact us through FB or email us.  

Thank you so much for watching and take care.  

Oct Vlog

Long awaited blog from ITOC!

[video description: Stephanie Chao, Taiwanese American women, black framed glasses and hair pulled back.  She is wearing a black cardigan and clasping her hands in front of her.  Background is the white and blue wall.]

Hi Everyone, 

I know it has been a while since ITOC has posted.  We apologize and thanks for your patience.  ITOC hasn't posted in a while. We recently turned over to the new ITOC counsel and it took us some time to get settled into our new roles.  Over the next few months, each counsel member will be introducing themselves to you.  

So, let me introduce myself.  My name is Stephanie Chao.  I am the new ITOC Chair. 

This past summer during the RID conference, we had an ITOC MS forum.  We had such a great turn out of around 50 people.   That was amazing.  We also handed out the first ever ITOC Outstanding Service Award to Leandra Willams.  Congrats! We will be doing this again in 2017, so we will be asking for nominations and your votes at that time.    

During the forum, we also asked people to come up and share what they would like to see ITOC to do. Some ideas included: wanting to see more POC posting vlogs on the RID website and on social media in general.  wanting ITOC to provide scholarships to interpreters of color to attend conferences and workshops. However, to make that happen, we need your fundraising ideas!  We would also like to set up quarterly public forums to gather your feedback and ideas.  The first forum will be set up on our facebook page.  If there seems to be a lot of interest, we can set up a video call for future forums.  

This next month, we will be setting our goals for the 2015-2017 term of ITOC.  We want your input in what you would like to see ITOC to do.  

We are still in the need to fill a few regional representative positions (regions 1, 3, 4). if you are interested, please contact us.  

Lastly, join our FB group and like our FB page!  Feel free to give us your feedback and ideas via email or facebook.  We are always open to hearing/seeing from you.  

 Looking forward to working with you!

Welcome 2015-2017 ITOC Chair: Stephanie!!

 

 

[Image:  Stephanie is in a black shirt and dark green cardigan.  You can see the bedroom door on the left.  On the right, a poster of the map of the world.]

English Version 

Hello!  My name is Stephanie Chao.  I am the new Chair for ITOC.  There are two things I'd like to see ITOC do in the next two years.  First, I want to continue discussions on cultural awareness, diversity, and intersectionality.  Specifically, how these impact our work as interpreters.  Secondly, I'd love to see more POC become presenters and give workshops at RID conferences.  I'd love to hear your ideas.  Please share what you would like to see ITOC do on Facebook.    

Welcome 2015-2017 ITOC Vice Chair: Michon!!

Image: Michon Shaw, a Black woman, wearing a light blue blouse, a braided pearl necklace and dangle earrings is signing in front of a tan color wall.

English Version:

Hello! Hi, I'm Michon Shaw. I'm from Tampa, Florida. I was born and raised here in Florida. In 2006, I graduated from the University of Southern Florida's (USF) Interpreter Training Program. Since that time, I have been working as an interpreter with 6 years in the VRS setting. While VRS is a wonderful field to work in, I wanted more, so I made the decision to return to school.

 

Now I am a graduate student and I have an expected graduation date of Dec 2015. I am studying interpreting pedagogy. That means that I am taking courses to become an interpreter educator. Specifically, in the college setting, for interpreter training programs. It's something that I am excited about.

 

I'm also excited about the future of ITOC. Yes! I know it will be a good one! Thank you for selecting me to be your Vice Chair. I am excited because I can envision us coming together and having a collaborative discussion about our field. Of primary importance, ITOC needs to think about how we can grow our membership. Also, we need to discuss the current state of the field. If you look around, there's not that many interpreters and transliterators of color. Right?! There's not many. And yes, while there are some areas that have more interpreters of color than others, there's not many of us. I want to see us sit down and figure out how we can help our field grow, with more interpreters and transliterators of color.

That's my goal.

So, do we need to go into high schools, and grab high school students and encourage them to take ASL classes? Maybe. The point is, let's come together, discuss and figure out what we, the ITOC members... what can WE do?

I look forward to meeting you soon. Take care, bye bye.

Welcome 2015-2017 ITOC Secretary: Kristeena!!

Image: Kristeena, a Latina woman, wearing a grey blouse and black headband is signing. In the background, is a white door, cream color wall, and an olive green dresser with various items on top.

English Version
Hello! My name is Kristeena! I am the secretary for Interpreters and Transliterators of Color. I will like to accomplish that we acknowledge the diversity of ITOC members  and increase awareness and honor our life experiences.  I love learning about different cultures of the world.  I am fascinated about Intersectionality because of our life experiences that we face as People of Color.

ITOC Update: Council and RID NOLA Conference Updates!

ITOC Update

Signed version

ITOC nominations update:

Nominations for the ITOC council 2015-2017 term were open from Jan - April.

The following individuals were nominated:

Chair: Stephanie Chao, NIC (California)

Vice Chair: Michon Shaw, NIC - A (Florida) 

Secretary/Treasurer: Kristeena Thaten, DI (California)

All of the positions were uncontested and the nominees have accepted their nominations. 

Their terms will begin at the conclusion of the 2015 RID National Conference. We will post more information to introduce you to the new ITOC council soon.

Council vacancies:

We have vacancies on the council. Region 1, 3 & 4 still need representatives.  If you are interested in filling the vacancy for your region please contact itoc.secretary@gmail.com. The new database from RID allows us to sort out our members by region. We will also begin to directly ask members to serve as region representatives. The term for current region reps ends at the conclusion of the 2016 RID Regional Conferences.

National conference update:

We are looking forward to the RID national conference! We have several conference activities planned.

·  Saturday, 8/8 ITOC member section forum at 12:30pm. We will provide an opportunity for networking, give an update on ITOC activities over the last two years, and will recognize an interpreter of color for their work in our community.

o Here is where we need your help! We would like to recognize an interpreter of color for their service to our community. We think it's time for us to make sure our contributions to the field are not only known, but documented! We have legends among us and we want them to be honored. If you want to nominate someone to be recognized, the requirements are simple.

1) Send an email or signed message to itoc.secretary@gmail.com.
2) Give us the name of the individual that you would like to see recognized. 3) Tell us why they should be recognized. What type of contributions have they made to their community (This may be volunteer service at the local, regional, or national level. It could be educational achievements that aim to advance the interpreting profession overall or specifically for interpreters of color. Or, something else not listed here that is worthy of recognition).
4) Send us your nominations by July 1, 2015 to give us time to review nominations and prepare to recognize the individual during the ITOC forum at the national conference.

That's it. The ITOC council will review all of the nominations and will select one award recipient. We hope this tradition will continue and that every two years at the national conference, we will recognize an interpreter of color for the excellent things they are doing for our community and for the field of interpreting!

·  Monday, 8/10 at 9am - Social Justice Plenary Session - a discussion on social justice and what it means for interpreters.

·  Tuesday, 8/11 at 2pm - Social Justice Round Table - an opportunity to engage in conscious, critical dialogue, covering a range of issues in our field. We will have panelists who will demonstrate the importance of vulnerability and how to engage in these important discussions, in a safe space. Participants will be given the opportunity to engage in similar dialogues in small groups. Anyone who wants to learn about social justice and how to engage in these discussions will want to participate. Those already actively aspiring towards social justice will also not want to miss the Monday morning and Tuesday afternoon sessions. 

o Note: The SJ plenary session and the SJRT are the result of a collaboration between ITOC, IDP, Deaf Caucus and BLeGIT and is also ITOC's way of directly responding to the survey of our members, who overwhelmingly wanted to see discussions of social justice, power, privilege and oppression, and multiculturalism at the RID national conference. We hope you can make it!

ITOC lanyards

We will have ITOC lanyards on sale again starting now, and during the conference. The cost is one for $3 or two for $5. The profit earned by the sale of these lanyards will help us continue to provide professional development opportunities that specifically address the needs of interpreters of color.

See you at the conference!